The present invention relates to a container for receiving stacks of flat objects such as, for example, items of mail, and additionally to a device for the direct stacking of flat objects into containers.
Stacking devices and stack containers are used in mail distribution systems. In the simplest case, items are stacked into stack compartments having fixed stack bottoms and side walls. Drawer-like receiving devices for containers are disposed below respective compartments. To transfer a stack into a container, an operator pulls out the drawer with the container on it and moves the stack manually into the container. This can be accomplished in the simplest case by the operator gripping the stack, or only part of it, with both hands and lowering it into the stack container. This involves the danger that, in the course of the lowering process, the stack becomes disarranged and falls apart and must be reassembled manually.
A device for the direct stacking of mail items into containers in which this danger is avoided is disclosed in European Patent No. 0,049,718 and its counterpart U.S. Pat. No. 4,518,160. Here, a movable tongue co-operating with a fixed stack bottom projects into the container so that the stack is introduced into the container relatively smoothly. One drawback of this device, however, is that the movable tongue must be pulled out of the container and the container cannot be filled to the top.